.  jiiVt  .".TW  TT:  *«.  lv  ri*i«t ■  •  ■■  _Ti'  H  cm 


£j  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *g 


Presented   byTVo-  TBTB.NJ^CArVx^  .d, "$."£. 


WHAT  A  DAILY  NEWSPAPER  MIGHT  BE  MADE.  365 

for  their  colossal  scheme  of  national  repudiation.  What  should  we 
say  if  we  were  told  that  a  syndicate  of  Mormons  contemplated  the 
purchase  of  Plymouth  Church  (the  services  of  its  pastor  presumably 
included),  that  they  might  use  it  for  the  propagation  of  their  peculiar 
doctrines?  Yet  if  newspapers  were  what  they  ought  to  be,  the  one 
suggestion  would  seem  no  more  monstrous  than  the  other. 

My  final  word,  then,  in  this  discussion  would  be  (and  it  is  but 
the  essence  of  the  many  that  have  gone  before)  that  the  ideal  news- 
paper of  the  future  will  recognize,  in  all  its  relations  to  the  public,  a 
code  of  ethics  no  less  defined  and  no  less  stringent  than  those  recog- 
nized in  the  other  professions.  "  I  cannot  say, "  to  borrow  Mr. 
Euskin's  phrase  concerning  such  a  newspaper  as  I  have  attempted  to 
foreshadow,  "whether  it  would  ever  pay  well  to  sell  it;  but  lam 
sure  it  would  pay  well  to  read  it,  and  to  read  no  other. " 

William  Morton  Payne. 


THE   ALIENATION  OF   CHUKCH   AND   PEOPLE. 

We  are  living  in  the  ebb-time  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
Church  is  ruled  by  dogmaticians,  ecclesiastics  and  traditionalists. 
But  their  day  is  almost  over.  There  is  that  profound  dissatisfaction 
with  the  present  state  of  things,  that  intense  longing  for  better 
things,  that  anxious  quest  for  something  higher,  that  readiness  to 
follow  anyone  who  seems  to  have  something  new,  which  herald  the 
approach  of  a  new  era. 

(1)   The  Church  has  lost  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  its  ability 
to  teach  them  the  truth.      The  Church  ought  to  be  in  the  van  of  knowl- 
edge — for  it  is  endowed  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  guide  into  all  the 
truth.     Theology  in  olden  times  was  rightly  regarded  as  the  queen 
of  the  sciences.     But  theology  no  longer  reigns,  she  has  not  kept 
pace  with  the  progress  of  knowledge.      She  has  pursued  her  own 
independent  way.     She  has  waged  war  with  science  and  philosophy 
and   has  been  defeated  in  so  many  battles  that  science  and  philos- 
ophy have  gone  on  before  her  and  left  her  in  the  rear.     The  Eoman 
Catholic  theology  is  too  mediaeval.     The  Protestant  theology  is  too 
much    that  of  the  seventeenth  century.      Even  the  more  advanced 
types  of  Protestantism  have  become  stereotyped  in  the  doctrines  and 
methods  of  the  eighteenth  century.     The  theology  of  the  denomina- 
is  therefore  apart  from  the  learning  of  our  times,  confined  for 
the  most  part  to  the  office-bearers  of  these  denominations,  and  of  no 
value  or  importance  to  the  people.     There  is  a  Christian  theology 
which  has  appropriated  in  a  measure  the  results  of  modern  thought. 
this  theology  is    taught  by  a  few   individual  teachers,  and  its 
adherents  are   found  anion--  a  liberal  minority  in  the  denominations, 
who  have  to  contend  against  imputations  of  heresy  and  heterodoxy. 
The  denominations  still  adhere,  in  the  main,  to  the  traditional  theol- 
•vhieh  the  majority   insist  upon  as  the  true  orthodoxy,  and  they 
toutly  all  changes  and  improvements. 
■  have  been  the   inevitable  results  of  such  traditionalism  and 
of  faith  in  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     The  official  teach- 
of    the  denominations  is  apart   from   the   thought   of  the   age. 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND   PEOPLE.  367 

Therefore  those  who  have  been  trained  in  the  thought  of  the  age, 
the  whole  class  of  learned  men,  are  out  of  sympathy  with  the  theol- 
ogy of  the  denominations.  How  can  a  man  of  science  have  any 
patience  with  the  doctrine  of  creation  and  the  theories  of  miracles 
and  prophecy  which  are  commonly  taught  in  theological  schools 
and  from  the  Christian  pulpits?  How  can  a  man  who  has  been 
trained  in  modern  psychology,  metaphysics  and  ethics  fail  to  be 
repelled  by  the  crude  philosophy  that  underlies  the  dogmas  of  the 
systems  of  theology  which  are  regarded  as  the  standards  of 
orthodoxy?  How  can  such  a  man  look  with  complacency  upon  the 
battle  over  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  between  creationism  and 
traducianism,  or  the  discussion  of  the  freedom  of  the  will?  How 
can  he  engage  to  dishonor  the  reason,  to  divest  himself  of  his  con- 
science, or  to  assent  to  the  unethical  dogma  of  immediate  sanctifica- 
tion,  whether  in  this  life  or  in  any  other  life?  How  can  the  man 
who  has  been  trained  in  modern  historical  investigation  accept  the 
traditional  denominational  history,  with  so  many  spurious  claims  that 
will  not  bear  the  strain  of  historical  criticism?  How  can  the  man 
who  has  been  trained  in  modern  philology  and  in  the  classic  litera- 
tures do  otherwise  than  refuse  his  confidence  to  those  denominations 
which  are  loud  in  their  hostility  to  the  literary  criticism  of  Holy 
Scripture?  Denominational  systems  of  dogma  which  shrink  from 
the  fellowship  of  science,  philosophy,  history  and  literature,  forfeit 
thereby  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  those  who  pursue  the  paths 
of  scholarly  investigation.  It  is  not  strange  that  so  large  a  propor- 
tion of  scholarly  men  are  out  of  sympathy  with  the  Church.  It  is  a 
marvel  that  the  denominations  retain  so  large  a  proportion  of  scholars 
in  their  communion. 

The  situation  is  relieved  to  a  considerable  extent  by  the  modern 
theory  that  only  the  office- bearers  are  responsible  for  the  tenets  of  the 
denomination.  The  tenets  of  the  denominations  are  seldom  in  these 
days  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Christian  people.  Denomina- 
tional dogmas  are  to  a  great  extent  esoteric  to  the  ministry.  The 
people  know  little  about  them  and  care  little  for  them.  But  this 
situation  is  unstable.  Dogmas  which  are  outside  the  faith  and  life 
of  the  people  will  not  long  retain  their  hold  upon  the  clergy.  Gradu- 
ally the  ministry  and  the  people  assimilate.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
a  considerable  body  of  the  ministry  in  the  several  denominations  have 
lost  faith  in  the  traditional  dogmas  and  have  banished  them  from 
their  experience.  But  this  can  be  only  temporary.  There  are  those 
U 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE. 

who  arc  zealous  for  the  old  paths  and  the  traditional  modes  of  state- 
in. -nt — these  will  ere  long  bring  on  the  crisis;  and  the  inevitable  re- 
sult will  be  either  the  transformation  of  the  denominations  or  the 
gradual  withdrawal  from  them  of  ministers  and  people. 

Some  of  these  find  the  relief  they  need  in  other  denominations. 
But  there  arc  great  multitudes,  especially  in  the  large  cities,  who  no 
longer  attend  upon  the  ministrations  of  the  Christian  Church — not 
ise  they  are  not  Christians  or  religious,  but  because  they  cannot 
in  good  conscience  subscribe  to  the  tenets  of  the  denominations  which 
they  have  abandoned,  and  because  they  have  not  yet  found  a  church 
home  in  which  they  can  feel  altogether  at  peace.  Some  of  them  be- 
come what  is  known  in  our  cities  as  "  religious  tramps, "  wandering 
about  from  church  to  church  or  attending  evangelistic  and  special 
services;  others  abstain  from  church  attendance  altogether.  Minis- 
ters of  this  type  usually  withdraw  from  the  ministry  and  engage  in 
literary  work  or  in  some  form  of  benevolence,  or  else  enter  upon  a 
professional  or  business  career.  There  are  many  more  such  ministers 
than  is  usually  supposed. 

The  situation  is  still  further  relieved  by  the  large  number  of 
liberal  men  in  the  Christian  ministry  who  have  constructed  for  them- 
selves, in  whole  or  in  part,  a  system  of  theology  which  is  in  a 
measure  in  harmony  with  modern  thought.  These  are  aware  of  the 
difficulties  of  the  situation.  They  know  that  they  have  a  holy  war 
to  wage.  They  have  a  duty  to  perform  in  the  modern  world  and 
they  intend  to  live  and  think  in  the  midst  of  modern  thought. 
•  ministers  gather  about  them  multitudes  who  without  them' 
would  be  lost  to  the  Christian  Church.  The  liberals  in  the  great 
Protestant  denominations  for  the  most  part  see  eye  to  eye,  and  stand 
shoulder  to  shoulder.  They  are  prepared  to  stand  in  the  ranks 
where  their  Master  has  placed  them  and  do  their  reforming  work 
inside  the  denominations.  They  are  prepared  to  join  their  brethren 
in  other  denominations,  or  they  are  prepared  to  construct  new  de- 
nominations if  the  necessity  should  arise.  But  at  all  events  they 
will  go  on  with  their  reforming  work.  It  is  a  characteristic  of 
liberals  that  they  "believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  They  have  con- 
-•  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  guiding  the  Church  of  our  day  as 
tni1.'  lided  the  Church  of  the  apostles.     They  are  determined 

to  follow  1 1     guidance. 

liberals  of  the  present  day  are  not  destructive;  they  have  the 
spirit  of  modern  criticism.     But  they  have  so  used  it  as  to  eliminate 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND   PEOPLE.  369 

truth  from  error.  They  have  in  a  measure,  by  Biblical  criticism, 
removed  the  rubbish  of  traditional  theories  and  gained  the  real  Bible. 
They  have,  by  historical  criticism,  fought  their  way  through  tradi- 
tional prejudices  and  misrepresentations  and  won  a  real  Christian  his- 
tory. They  have  traced  the  dogmas  of  the  systems  to  their  roots  and 
have  determined  what  was  derived  from  Holy  Scripture,  what  from 
Greek  philosophy  and  Eoman  jurisprudence,  what  from  the  creeds, 
what  from  the  speculations  of  the  theologians,  what  from  the  provin- 
cial schools  of  theology.  The  hay,  straw  and  stubble  are  no  longer 
to  them  confounded  with  the  gold,  silver  and  precious  jewels.  They 
believe  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and  therefore  do  not  cast  aside  as  worthless 
the  doctrinal  development  of  nineteen  centuries.  They  rather,  by 
criticism,  strip  from  the  dogmas  the  filthy  rags  of  traditionalism  in 
order  to  clothe  them  in  the  shining  raiment  of  history. 

Nothing  substantial  of  all  the  achievements  of  Christian  history 
will  be  lost  in  this  reconstruction  of  theology  which  has  been  under- 
taken by  liberal  theologians.  Ere  long  they  will  accomplish  their 
task,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  until  that  time 
the  alienation  between  the  Church  and  modern  thought  will  continue. 
It  will  probably  increase  in  the  United  States  of  America,  rather  than 
diminish,  through  the  present  generation.  But  early  in  the  next 
century  we  may  hope  that  a  new  theology  will  advance  to  the  front 
of  human  learning  and  will  become  once  more  the  mother  and  queen 
of  all  truth. 

(2)  The  Church  has  lost  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  its  author- 
ity as  a  divine  institution.  The  Church  is  a  divine  institution  in  the 
midst  of  the  world,  with  a  ministry  commissioned  by  Christ  and 
sacraments  appointed  by  Christ.  The  Church  is  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  to  which  all  who  seek  His  salvation  and  recognize  Him  as  Lord 
and  Saviour  should  belong.  The  Church  and  Christianity  ought  to 
be  co-extensive.  But  the  Church  impaired  its  authority  when  the 
Greek,  Roman  and  Oriental  churches  divided  into  hostile  camps.  It 
shattered  its  authority  when  in  Western  Europe  it  broke  into  a  num- 
ber of  national  churches.  Its  authority  was  well-nigh  ruined  when 
the  national  churches  of  Great  Britain  were  confronted  with  large 
numbers  of  non-conforming  sects.  In  the  United  States  of  America 
nearly  all  the  forms  of  Christianity  exist  side  by  side  and  lead  inde- 
pendent lives.  Where  in  all  these  heterogeneous  forms  of  Christi- 
anity shall  we  find  the  divine  institution  of  the  Church  and  the 
authority  with  which  the  Church  was  endowed  by  Christ?     The  ex- 


370  THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE. 

elusive  claims  of  the  Koman  church  amount  to  little  in  the  face  of  the 
historic  and  aggressive  Protestantism.  The  exclusive  claims  of  any 
one  of  the  national  churches  receive  little  attention  in  the  face  of  those 
of  other  national  churches  of  equal  antiquity  and  of  similar  historic 
and  legal  rights.  Shall  we  recognize  a  divine  authority  in  all  the 
varied  forms  of  historic  Christianity,  or  shall  we  deny  it  to  them  all? 
It  is  not  strange  that  a  large  mass  of  people  deny  that  there  is 
any  divine  authority  in  any  of  these  forms  of  Christianity.  Eccle- 
siastical authority  has  been  so  often  abused  in  the  history  of  the 
Protestant  churches  no  less  than  of  the  Koman  church,  in  the  interests 
of  tyranny,  injustice  and  wrong,  that  men  are  tempted  to  deny  that 
there  can  be  any  divine  authority  in  such  ecclesiastical  organizations. 
They  say,  "  What  evidence  do  these  churches  give  that  they  acted 
under  the  influence  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  and  under  the  superinten- 
dence  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  men?  Judge  them  by  their 
fruits !  The  ecclesiastics  have  exhibited  little  if  any  of  the  Christ- 
like spirit  and  character.  They  have  not  acted  like  men  under  the 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Their  claims  to  divine  authority  must 
be  spurious  claims.  They  do  not  sustain  the  test  given  us  by  Christ 
and  His  apostles.  There  is  no  divine  authority  in  any  of  these 
churches."  This  is  the  thinking  of  large  masses  of  people  at  the 
present  time.  Therefore  they  either  absent  themselves  from  the 
churches,  or  attend  their  services  occasionally,  without  compromising 
themselves  with  them  by  membership. or  communion. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  all  the  denominations  claimed  divine 
right  for  their  forms  of  government.     But  the  Protestant  denomina- 
tions have  in  the  main  abandoned  the  theory  that  their  types  of 
church  government  are  chartered  in  the  New  Testament,  and  there- 
fore they  seek  historic  right.     Those  who,  like  the  Koman  Catholics 
An<_'lo-Catholics,  find  a  divine  right  in  the  Church  itself,  still 
hold  to  the  divine  right  of  the  Episcopal  and  Papal  forms  of  church 
nment.     But  those  who  limit  the  divine  right  to  the  prescriptions 
of  Holy  Scripture  are  obliged  to  abandon  the  divine  right  of  their 
clave  forms  of  government.     With  the  weakening  of  the  sense 
of  the  divine  right  of  church  government,  the  divine  right  of  church 

;iif  and  of  the  ministry  and  of  the  sacraments  also  gradually 

a  sign  of  the  times,  the  General  Assembly  of  the 

iaD  church  in  the  United  States  of  America  in  this  year 

leolared  it  to  be  heterodox  to  say  that  "  the  Church  is  a  great 
f-untain    of  divine  authority"    and  virtually  assumed  the  position 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE.  371 

that  the  Presbyterian  church  is  nothing  more  than  a  voluntary- 
society,  a  religious  club,  in  which  the  supreme  obligation  is  in  the 
contract  assumed  by  the  vow  of  subscription  at  ordination.  Those 
who  hold  to  such  a  theory  of  the  Church  have  themselves  abandoned 
the  doctrine  that  the  Church  has  authority  as  a  divine  institution; 
and  they  cannot  very  long  hold  this  position  without  undermining 
and  destroying  confidence  in  the  validity  of  the  Presbyterian  min- 
istry and  of  Presbyterian  sacraments. 

The  Salvation  Army  is  one  of  the  most  aggressive  forms,  if  not 
the  most  aggressive  form,  of  modern  Christianity.  It  has  discarded 
the  Church  form  of  Christianity  altogether  and  adopted  the  Army 
form  as  that  best  suited  for  the  propagation  of  Christianity.  It  is 
possible  that  still  other  such  forms  may  be  assumed  by  devout  men 
and  women  who  have  lost  confidence  in  the  Church  as  a  divine  in- 
stitution and  who  think  that  by  divesting  Christianity  of  the  forms 
of  the  Church,  they  may  make  it  more  fruitful.  It  is  quite  evident 
to  anyone  who  knows  the  Salvation  Army,  that  the  officers  hold  up 
the  Christlike  life  and  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  chief 
attainments  of  Christian  men  and  women.  It  may  be  that  the  Army 
form  may  result  in  another  variety  of  the  Church  form  of  Christianity, 
or  it  may  be  that  this  form,  like  that  assumed  by  the  Friends  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  will  be  a  temporary  refuge  for  a  more  devout 
and  aggressive  type  of  Christianity ;  or  like  the  monastic  orders,  it 
may  become  an  auxiliary  to  the  Church. 

Confidence  in  the  divine  authority  of  the  Church  as  a  divine 
institution  is  a  vanishing  quantity  in  most  Protestant  communities ; 
but  it  is  all  the  more  powerful  in  the  Episcopal  churches  through  the 
potent  influence  of  the  Anglo-Catholic  movement;  and  also  in  the 
Eoman  Catholic  church.  Those  denominations  which  hold  to  their 
faith  in  the  Church  as  a  divine  institution  are  certain  to  gain  in  the 
number  of  their  adherents,  while  those  denominations  which  have 
lost  their  faith  in  the  Church  as  a  divine  institution  will  certainly 
lose  the  confidence  of  those  who  now  adhere  to  them ;  for  no  Church 
can  have  any  permanent  life  which  does  not  recognize  the  activity  of 
the  divine  Spirit  working  in  its  institutions,  and  of  the  headship  of 
Jesus  Christ  over  all  its  agencies. 

The  denominations  of  Christians  are  in  fact  losing  the  confidence 
of  Christian  people.  The  people  change  from  one  denomination  to 
another  with  the  utmost  ease,  usually  on  the  simple  ground  of  prefer- 
ence for  the  pastor,  and  they  trouble  themselves  but  little  what  the 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE. 

denomination  may  be.  In  the  same  family,  brothers  and  sisters  will 
be  members  of  several  different  denominations.  If  the  minister  suits 
them  they  attend  his  church;  if  there  is  no  minister  in  their  neigh- 
borhood who  suits  them,  they  absent  themselves  from  church.  They 
no  longer  feel  under  any  obligation  to  sustain  any  particular  denom- 
ination or  any  special  congregation.  And  yet  these  people  are  easily 
reached.  A  Christian  minister  has  no  difficulty  in  enlisting  them  in 
some  form  of  Christian  work  and  in  winning  their  allegiance  to  any 
aggressive  Christlike  enterprise. 

There  is  a  profound  dissatisfaction  among  the  masses  of  the 
people  with  regard  to  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  churches. 
This  dissatisfaction  will  continue  and  increase  until  something  better 
is  evolved  out  of  the  present  condition  of  things.  It  matters  little 
what  the  form  of  government  may  be.  In  Episcopal  churches  it  is 
the  bishop  who  has  to  bear  the  blame ;  in  Presbyterian  churches  it  is 
the  Presbytery  or  the  General  Assembly ;  in  Congregational  churches 
the  deacons  are  said  to  be  at  fault.  The  ecclesiastical  denominations 
in  the  United  States  are  too  much  involved  in  traditional  usages  of 
former  centuries;  they  do  not  win  the  confidence  of  the  people  in 
the  propriety  of  their  government  and  discipline,  or  in  their  justice 
and  right.  Out  of  this  complexity,  liberal  men  in  all  denominations 
are  earnestly  seeking  something  to  which  all  may  agree,  or  are  try- 
ing, in  the  words  of  Richard  Baxter,  to  "  select  out  of  all  the  best 
part  and  leave  the  worst, "  with  the  hope  that  they  will  thereby  attain 
at  once  "  the  most  desirable  [and  ancient]  form  of  government. " 

The  Christian  Church  has  made  no  substantial  mistake  in  the 
evolution  of  its  institutions.  The  mistakes  have  been  made  in  those 
things  which  are  formal  and  circumstantial.  If  these  mistakes  can 
be  detected  and  removed  and  the  lines  of  development,  defined  in 
the  past,  be  still  further  advanced,  the  denominations  may  be  com- 
l  into  a  form  of  church  government  and  discipline  that  will 
satisfy  the  yearnings  of  all  Christlike  men  and  women;  and  a  united, 
6  Church  will  once  more  win  confidence  as  a  divine  institu- 
tion endowed  with  divine  authority. 

(3)  The  Church  has  lost  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  its  sanc- 

the  most  essential  attributes  of  the  Church  is  its  sanctity. 

the  holy  catholic  Church.     If  the  Church  is  the  bride  of  Christ, 

roghl  to  l.e  without  spot  or  blemish  or  any  such  thing.     Mirrored 

b  her  institutions,  the  life  and  character  of  Jesus  ought  always  to  be 

v  seen.      If  the  Church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  every  movement 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE.  373 

of  the  Church  ought  to  be  a  Christlike  movement,  every  activity  a 
Christlike  activity.  His  mission  should  be  her  mission ;  His  life  her 
life ;  His  character  her  character.  How  far  below  this  ideal  is  the 
Church  of  history !  How  inferior  the  Church  of  the  present  day  is, 
when  compared  with  the  Church  in  its  heroic  periods !  Is  self-sacri- 
fice or  self-aggrandizement  the  law  of  the  Church?  Are  ecclesiastics 
the  servants  of  all,  or  do  they  strive  to  lord  it  over  all?  Do  dogma- 
ticians  seek  the  truth  of  Grod  or  the  propagation  of  their  systems? 
Is  the  gospel  preached  to  the  poor  or  to  the  rich?  Where  do  we 
find  the  Church  at  work — among  the  suffering  and  dying,  or  among 
the  prosperous  and  the  comfortable?  Where  do  we  find  the  great 
preachers,  the  great  church-buildings,  the  great  expenditure  of  Chris- 
tian men  and  money — among  the  toiling  masses  of  the  people,  or 
among  the  comfortable  and  well-to-do?  Such  questions  as  these, 
honestly  answered,  determine  how  far  the  Church  of  our  day  is 
Christlike  and  to  what  extent  she  follows  the  Christ  in  self-denial 
and  self-sacrifice.  Doubtless  there  are  as  noble  examples  of  self- 
sacrificing  ministry  now  as  there  ever  were  before  in  Christian 
history.  There  are  many  philanthropists  who  have  consecrated  their 
wealth  to  Christ  and  His  kingdom.  There  are  many  men  and 
women  who  spend  themselves  in  the  Kedeemer's  service.  But  how 
is  it  with  the  churches  as  denominations?  What  is  the  opinion 
formed  of  the  Church  by  the  masses?  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  to  a  great  extent  these  have  lost  confidence  in  the  Church  as 
a  holy  Christlike  institution.  There  are  several  reasons  for  this 
state  of  affairs. 

(a)  The  Protestant  churches  have  insisted  upon  justification  by 
faith  as  necessary  to  salvation,  and  the  Methodists  and  evangelicals 
have  urged  the  experience  of  regeneration.  They  have  not  made  the 
mistake  of  some  radical  Lutherans,  that  good  works  were  hurtful  to 
salvation,  but  they  have  depreciated  good  works,  sanctifi cation  and 
personal  holiness  in  the  chain  of  salvation.  They  have  recognized 
their  importance,  but  they  have  not  taught  them  as  essential  to  a  full 
salvation.  They  have  looked  for  sanctification  at  the  hour  of  death 
as  a  magical  transformation.  They  have  not  earnestly  and  eagerly 
sought  it  in  this  life.  The  Eoinan  Catholics  have  held  forth  the 
counsels  of  Christian  perfection  for  the  attainment  of  a  chosen  few 
who  are  called  to  be  saints,  and  so  far  have  maintained  a  higher 
ethical  standard  than  Protestantism;  but  the  Roman  church  as  a 
body  has  been  content  with  a  ceremonial  sanctity.     The  churches 


874  THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH    AND  PEOPLE. 

have  not  made  Christlikeness  their  shining  mark.  The  mind  of 
Christ  has  not  been  their  mind;  His  ways  their  ways.  Therefore 
the  Church  has  not  in  any  great  measure  presented  itself  to  the 
people  as  holy  in  Christlike  words  and  deeds.  She  has  sought  more 
her  owii  advancement  in  numbers,  in  wealth  and  in  influence,  than 
tht1  salvation  of  poor,  weak  and  outcast  men  and  women.  Her 
ministers  and  her  adherents  have  not  won  men  and  women  from  sin 
to  holiness  by  their  example.  Church  membership,  subscription  to 
creeds,  conformity  to  doctrines,  liturgies  and  ceremonies,  the  observ- 
ance of  religious  customs  and  sacred  days,  have  been  made  of  more 
importance  than  repentance,  good  deeds,  and  Christlike  lives. 

This  is  a  practical  age.  The  Church  is  judged  by  its  fruits, 
and  if  it  does  not  make  men  holier  and  happier  it  is  not  greatly 
valued  by  practical  men.  So  long  as  churchmen  are  little  if  any 
better  than  men  who  are  not  churchmen,  these  can  hardly  be  severely 
blamed  if  they  do  not  see  any  very  great  advantages  in  church 
membership. 

(b)  The  churches  have  been  slow  to  engage  in  Christian  work. 
Almost  all  the  great  Christian  enterprises  of  modern  times  have  been 
undertaken  by  consecrated  men  and  women  outside  the  Church  and 
often  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  ministers  and  other  ecclesiastical 
authorities.  The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  the  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  many  other  organizations  of  a  similar 
character,  are  potent  energies  of  Christianity  outside  the  Church, 
although  conducted  by  Christian  people.  If  so  much  of  the  work  of 
Christ  may  be  carried  on  outside  the  Church,  why  not  more?  May 
not  the  Church  after  all  be  an  effete  institution,  very  useful  indeed 
in  the  olden  time  but  of  no  practical  importance  in  our  time?  Pos- 
sibly it  is  the  design  of  Providence  that  the  church  form  of  Christi- 
anity should  be  thrown  aside,  and  Christianity  in  new  and  more 
modern  forms  may  increase  its  usefulness  and  become  more  Christ- 
like. Other  forms  and  institutions  may  do  its  work  more  economi- 
cally and  more  efficiently.  Such  is  the  opinion  of  not  a  few  earnest 
Christian  people  in  our  times  whose  hearts  are  inflamed  with  zeal 
for  Christian  work,  but  who  are  chilled  by  the  cool  inertia  of 
onarj   ministers  and  grieved   to  the  soul  by  the  self-satisfied 

ervatism  of  the  churches. 

Christian  women  are  seeking  wider  fields  of  Christian  usefulness. 

They  have  been  admitted  to  many  departments  of  business-life,  to 

is  of  teaching,  law  and  medicine.     They  crave  a  place 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE.  375 

in  the  Christian  ministry.  Modestly  they  desire  some  sphere  in 
which  they  may  actively  serve  their  Master.  There  has  been  an 
earnest  effort  to  revive  the  order  of  deaconesses.  And  yet  the 
Presbyterian  church  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  several 
other  denominations  refuse  to  have  them  and  insist  upon  the  silence 
of  women  in  their  churches.  Other  denominations  in  a  cautious  way 
are  preparing  for  the  ministrations  of  deaconesses.  Few  are  they 
who  see  what  a  mighty  transformation  will  take  place  when  woman 
enters  with  all  her  energies  of  Christian  love  into  the  field  of  aggres- 
sive Christlike  service.  Multitudes  of  Christian  women  are  doing 
Christian  work  outside  the  churches  such  as  they  are  not  allowed  at 
the  present  time  to  do  within  the  churches.  Many  Christian  women 
are  thronging  into  the  Salvation  Army  and  into  the  numerous 
modern  sects  and  religious  and  benevolent  societies  which  give  them 
full  scope  for  their  activities. 

This,  then,  is  the  strange  situation  in  modern  Protestantism.  The 
churches  are  engaged  chiefly  in  the  conservative  work  of  caring  for 
the  regular  worship  of  the  congregations  at  the  stated  times,  in  pro- 
viding for  the  various  needs  of  the  social  and  religious  societies 
which  have  volunteered  to  worship  together  under  pastors  of  their 
own  choice.  But  the  aggressive  work  of  Christianity  is  done  very 
largely  outside  the  churches  and  apart  from  the  churches.  This  does 
not  tend  to  reconcile  the  people  and  the  Church,  for  the  churches  are 
not  churches  of  the  people:  they  are  churches  of  select  religious 
societies  from  which  the  people  as  such  are  excluded,  save  so  far  as 
they  may  comply  with  the  social  and  religious,  doctrinal  and  ecclesi- 
astical, ceremonial  and  liturgical  terms  of  communion.  ' 

(c)  The  Church  has  limited  its  conception  of  salvation  too  much 
to  the  future  life.  It  has  not  comprehended  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  salvation  taught  by  Jesus  Christ.  The  poor,  the  sick,  the 
suffering  and  the  dying  need  a  salvation  that  relieves  their  physical 
maladies.  Christians  have  undoubtedly  in  all  ages,  in  a  measure, 
established  hospitals,  infirmaries,  institutions  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor.  But  this  has  been  sporadic  and  occasional,  rather  than  as  an 
integral  part  of  the  salvation  preached  and  practised  by  the  Church. 
The  toiling  masses  in  our  age  are  no  worse  off  than  were  those  of 
other  ages.  But  they  think  that  they  are  more  miserable.  And 
they  are  more  miserable  for  they  have  learned  that  they  are  capable 
of  better  things,  and  they  are  yearning  for  better  things.  They  are 
anxiously  looking  for  a  Saviour  who  will  redeem  them  from  their 


THE  ALIENATION   OF  CHURCH  AND   PEOPLE. 

misery.  Jesus  Christ  is  that  Saviour.  His  Church  should  bear 
them  the  glad  tidings  of  that  salvation.  The  Church  may  not  work 
mi  moles  as  lie  did,  but  the  Church  may  and  ought  to  do  greater 
things  than  the  miracles  of  Christ  and  His  apostles  by  applying  all 
the  resources  of  modern  science  and  modern  methods  for  the  relief 
of  the  poverty  and  the  sufferings  of  men. 

In  this  respect  the  advocates  of  Faith  Cure  and  Christian  Science 
have,  if  we  understand  them  aright,  grasped  an  important  principle, 
ami  on  this  account  are  engaged  in  an  active,  zealous  propaganda  in 
which  many  devout  men  and  women  share.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  salvation  from  all  sin  and  all 
misery,  and  that  as  Jesus  removed  bodily  maladies,  so  His  Church 
should  aim  to  do  the  same.  Prayers  for  the  recovery  of  the  sick 
and  the  dying  should  be  offered  in  faith  and  holy  love.  The  relig- 
ious and  the  moral  should  always  accompany  the  material  and  the 
physical  remedies.  Science  and  faith  should  be  the  sisterly  hand- 
maids at  every  bed  of  suffering.  Science  without  faith  may  heal  a 
wound  that  a  diseased  soul  may  cause  to  break  forth  with  increased 
peril.  Faith  without  science  may  lift  the  soul  heavenward  only  to 
see  it  dragged  down  to  earth  by  a  diseased  body.  Faith  is  a  heavenly 
help  to  science  in  times  of  difficulty  and  doubt,  where  recovery 
depends  upon  the  state  of  the  soul  fully  as  much  as  upon  the  recu- 
perative energies  of  the  body. 

The  Church  is  called  upon  to  consider  and  to  solve  the  great 
social,  industrial  and  sanitary  problems  of  our  times.  The  Church 
has  lost  the  confidence  of  the  toiling  and  suffering  masses  by  neg- 
lecting  these  problems.  Too  often  the  Church  has  thoughtlessly 
espoused  the  side  of  the  privileged  classes  over  against  the  masses 
of  the  people.  The  toiling  masses  find  in  their  social  clubs  and  fra- 
ternal unions  that  which  the  Church  neglects  or  declines  to  give  them. 
If  the  churches  have  become  social  and  religious  clubs  for  the  privi- 
why  should  not  the  masses  have  their  clubs  in  which 
cise  of  brotherly  love  and  mutual  helpfulness  may  give  ex- 
■II  to  their  religious  instincts?  Many  earnest  Christian  workers 
have  apprehended  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  and  have  seen  in  a 
are  the  methods  of  reform.  College  and  University  settlements 
bave  been  established  outside  the  Church.  Undenominational  missions 
have  been  organized  in  which  agencies  unknown  to  church  establish- 
ments are  employed.  Churches  for  the  people  have  been  founded 
which  have  become  hives  of  religious  activity.     These  are,  however, 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  PEOPLE.  377 

occasional  and  sporadic  efforts,  at  present.  They  open  up  immense 
reaches  of  Christian  activity  in  the  future.  The  churches  as  denomi- 
nations have  not  yet  taken  any  great  interest  in  them.  The  future  will 
show  whether  the  denominations  will  undertake  this  work  in  a  broad, 
comprehensive  and  thorough -going  manner;  or  whether  this  also 
must  be  given  over  to  new  agencies  outside  the  churches.  It  re- 
mains to  be  seen  in  the  immediate  future  whether  a  new  denomination 
of  Christians  will  spring  into  existence  to  be  the-  church  of  the 
people,  or  whether  the  alienation  of  Church  and  people  is  still  further 
to  increase,  while  the  people  solve  their  religious  and  social  difficul- 
ties without  the  aid  of  the  churches. 

Some  of  the  reasons  have  been  presented  for  the  alienation  exist- 
ing between  Church  and  people  in  Christian  lands  at  the  present 
time.  Doubtless  others  and  better  ones  might  be  given  by  those 
who  are  engaged  in  the  newer  enterprises  designed  to  overcome  the 
difficulties  adduced.  One  thing  is  evident  to  all  who  consider  atten- 
tively the  present  distressing  situation.  Denominationalism  is  the 
great  sin  and  curse  of  the  modern  Church.  Denominationalism  is 
responsible  for  the  elaborate  systems  of  belief  which  are  paraded  as 
the  banners  of  orthodoxy  and  which  by  their  contentions  impair  the 
teaching  function  of  the  Church  and  destroy  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  its  possession  of  the  truth  of  God.  Denominationalism  is 
responsible  for  all  those  variations  of  church  government  and  dis- 
cipline, for  all  those  historical  tyrannies  and  wrongs,  which  have 
undermined  the  faith  of  the  people  in  the  divine  authority  of  such 
imperious,  self-complacent  and  mutually  exclusive  ecclesiastical  in- 
stitutions. Denominationalism  is  responsible  for  all  that  waste  of 
men  and  means,  all  those  unholy  jealousies  and  frictions,  all  that 
absorption  in  external,  formal  and  circumstantial  things,  which  dis- 
turb the  moral  development  of  the  individual  and  the  ethical  advance- 
ment of  the  community,  and  especially  retard  the  great  evangelistic 
and  reformatory  enterprises  at  home  and  abroad. 

Liberal  men  in  all  the  denominations,  holy  men  and  women  in  all 
religious  agencies,  have  set  their  minds  and  hearts  upon  the  removal 
of  these  hindrances  to  the  progress  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
denominations  have  accomplished  their  historic  task.  There  is  no 
longer  any  sufficient  reason  for  their  continued  existence.  They 
should  yield  their  life  and  their  experience  to  a  more  comprehensive 
and  more  efficient  church  plan,  one  that  will  embrace  all  that  is  best 


THE  ALIENATION  OF  CHURCH  AND   PEOPLE. 

in  each,  combining  the  executive  bishop  with  the  legislative  presby- 
ter v  and  the  electing  people  in  one  comprehensive  organization,  in 
which  every  form  of  tyranny,  injustice  and  wrong  will  be  stayed  by 
wholesome  cheeks  and  balances,  in  which  the  official  doctrine  will  be 
reduced  to  the  simple  sentences  of  the  universal  catholic  faith,  and 
in  which  conformity  to  Jesus  Christ  in  character  and  service  will  be 
regarded  as  of  vastly  more  importance  than  conformity  to  doctrine, 
discipline,  or  ceremonial.  Then  we  may  hope  that  the  Church  will 
have  regained  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  her  divine  authority, 
sanctity  and  catholicity. 

C.  A.  Briggs. 


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